Backless vest



April 23, 193$. GOLDSTEIN 2,038,280

BACKLES S VEST Filed Nov. 5, 1954 ,INVENTOR.

AmYS

Patented Apr". 21, 1936 UNITED STATES.

PATENT oFFmE BACKIJESS" VEST Abe-Goldstein, Rochester, N. Y.,rassignor to Hickey-Freeman 00., Rochester; N; Y., a corporation of New York Application November 5, 1984-,SerialNo. 751,498

3 Claims.

front panels, a neck-band for supporting the panels from the neck of the wearer, and straps at the rear lower corners of the panels so attached and shaped that they will hold the panels on the body of the wearer in such a way as to prevent their bulging.

A further object of this invention is to provide fastening straps so shaped and proportioned and attached to the front panels that they will not tend to slide upwardly on the body of the wearer but rather will conform to his shape and thereby snugly fit around his form.

These and many detailed objects of this invention will be apparent from the following description of the structure thereof in the following specification when taken in connection with the attached drawing.

This invention resides substantially in the combination, construction, arrangement and relative location of parts, all as will be described in greater detail in the following specification.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a backless vest in accordance with this invention showing the relative position of the parts;

Figure 2 is an elevational view thereof from the left side;

Figure 3 is a rear elevational view of a wearer showing the position which the back straps take; and

Figure 4 is a plan View of one of the straps.

Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to provide a backless vest construction which would be practical from the viewpoint of proper fit and maintenance of position on the body of a wearer. All prior efforts to provide a comfortable practical vest of this nature have failed because of the failure to properly form and attach the back straps to the front panels. Heretofore these back straps have been substantially straight pieces of material attached at substantially right angles to the rear edges of the front panels so that when in position on the body of a wearer they would easily slide upwardly, causing the front panels to bulge and ride up on the body of the wearer. The general object of this invention is to provide a correctly formed strap properly attached to the front panels so that it snugly fits the body of the wearer without sliding, thereby holding the front panels without bulging.

As illustrated in the drawing, the vest comprises frontpane'ls' I and 2 having suitable fastening means on the front edges thereof such as buttonholes 3 and buttons 4 for fastening the panels together in accordance with usual practice in this respect. The top ends of the front panels 5 aresecured together bymeans of a neck-band 5, which is shaped and attached thereto so as to lie around the neck and snugly fit the shoulders.

As will be apparent from Figure 1, this neckstrap is attached to the front panels along the lines 6 which extend somewhat at an angle to the general longitudinal length of the panels and are so positioned as to lie directly along the shoulders when in place.

Attached to the back edges of the front panels and extending upwardly from the bottom edge are the straps l and 9. The strap 1 is provided with the usual buckle 8 or equivalent fastening means for securing the ends of the straps together in adjusted length. The important feature of this invention resides in the form of the straps and their manner of attachment. to the panels. These straps which are substantially the same in construction are illustrated in Fig ure 4. They comprise an elongated piece of material having the left hand end slightly concave, as indicated at I0. Extending towards the right from the edge I 0 are the curved edges II and I3 which extend into the substantially straight edges l2 and I4. The portion ll of the upper edge is concave and the portion l3 of the lower edge is convex with both edges converging towards each other as they run into the substantially straight portions I4 and I2, respectively. The rear edges of the front panels as illustrated at l5 at the point of attachment of the straps are concave similar to the concave edge ll] of the straps. The straps are attached at their edges ill to the edges I5 of the panels so as to lie in a general direction somewhat at an acute angle to the general longitudinal axes of the panels. The attachment of the curved edges l0 and I5 together causes a fullness in the straps as illustrated at l6 and H, which is provided so as to fit the contour of the wearers body. The manner in which this fullness provides the form fitting feature is clearly illustrated in Figure 3.

The straps and 9 fit around the small of the back of the wearer along a substantially straight line at right angles to the spine, which results from the fact that these straps are attached to the panels at an angle thereto so that when the panels are in place the straps assume the position illustrated in Figure 3. Attention is also called to the fact that these straps are attached to the front panels from a point just at the bottom edge thereof, drawing the bottom curved edges of the front panels into a snug fit around the wearers body. The construction of the straps is such as to take advantage of the outward flare of the body upwardly from the waist and thereby prevent the panels from moving upwardly and producing unsightly bulges. This is a very important feature in a vest of this type, as will be apparent, since the neck-piece 5 contributes in no way to holding the vest down. However, in conjunction with straps properly formed in accordance with this invention, which straps actually tend to pull the panels downwardly, the neckpiece acts to maintain the front panels flat.

From the above description it will be apparent that this invention resides in certain principles of construction and operation as illustrated in the drawing, which may be embodied in other physical forms by those skilled in the art without departure from the scope thereof. I do not, therefore, wish to be limited to the disclosure but rather to the scope of the appended claims.

What I desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A vest of the type described comprising a pair of front panels secured together at the upper ends to form a neck-piece, and a pair of back straps secured to the lower rear edges of the front panels along a curved line to provide a fullness in the straps, said straps flaring outwardly along top and bottom edges which are concave and convex respectively.

2. A vest of the type described comprising a pair of front panels secured together at the upper ends to form a neck-piece, and a pair of back straps secured to the lower rear edges of the front panels along a curved line to provide a fullness in the straps, said straps flaring outwardly along top and bottom edges which are concave and convex respectively and said back straps being secured to the front panels at an acute angle to the longitudinal axes thereof.

3. A backless vest of the type described comprising a pair of front panels secured together at the top ends to form a neck-piece, and a pair of back straps secured to back edges of the front panels along a curved line to provide a fullness in the straps adjacent the panels and attached to the panels at an acute angle to the longitudinal axes of the panels.

ABE GOLDSTEIN. 

